1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to water sports safety equipment and, more particularly, to an automatic, telescoping, buoyant identification device for use with a water sports life vest.
2. Description of the Related Art
Water sports are becoming more popular then ever. Boating, water skiing and riding wave runners are all extremely popular recreational activities. As these activities increase in popularity, so too does the need to follow adequate safety measures. Crowded waters, coupled with the speed at which many water craft travel, create a situation where a collision could cause serious injury or death. These dangers are especially present where water skiers, wave runner riders or other water sports participants fall into the water, making them difficult to spot by other boaters. Accordingly, the need has developed for a means by which one can easily spot those who fall into the water, thus preventing the danger of being struck by other boaters.
In the related art, several patents disclose life vests that include telescoping signaling flags to identify the location of the wearer. These include U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,711, issued in the name of Samano, U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,369, issued in the name of Coffey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,661, issued in the name of Roe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,476, issued in the name of Howard, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,212, issued in the name of Howard.
These devices, however suffer from an inherent design problem. All of these inventions require that the wearer extend the flag manually when he/she enters the water. Thus, protection for the individual is dependent on their remembering to deploy the flag. This causes problems if the person is unconscious, forgets to deploy the flag, or a boat is oncoming quickly.
Two patents disclose life vests that include permanently extended signaling flags to identify the location of the wearer. These are U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,282, issued in the name of Krull et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,264, issued in the name of Melendez et al.
Other patents disclose signaling devices used to locate people in open waters include U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,127, issued in the name of Willis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,351, issued in the name of Danielson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,297, issued in the name of Loughlin, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,252, issued in the name of McNeil.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention. Consequently, a need has been felt for providing an apparatus and method which overcomes the problems cited above.